When This Meets That
by OnceUponASunday
Summary: Team Free Will was pushed to the edge. Castiel's angel batteries are drained and Dean need to do something to help the fallen angel. Setting in season 5 eps 21, after Pestilence, before Death. Destiel. First of Two-shot.


Disclaimer: The usual. Eric Kripke and the others own spn and its characters. This story is mine.

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When This Meets That.

Part 1.

It was not uncommon for Team Free Will to have gotten themselves in trouble. Lucifer was indeed father to the demons, and trying to cook up a plan to lock daddy back in hell was—well, not something of favor to the children. Threats became just ordinary talks, ambushes were always anticipated, and God knows what other crazy things demons were willing to do to kill Michael's vessel. They just have to be ready for freakin' anything, anywhere, anytime.

And this was where the road of collecting the four horsemen's rings had led to: eight dead imbecile demons, another five furious demons, a fallen angel who had drained his grace batteries, a knocked up Sam, a bleeding Dean, and zero clue on Death's whereabouts. Nowadays demons just know how to group up and work in teams, and Dean couldn't help but to swear at the thought of it.

Dean had to admit that he was tired of the chasing games. Of the saving-the-world ordeal. And especially of trying to hold back his urges to just say 'Yes' for real to Michael. But how can he, the one who knocked the first domino of apocalypse, gave up? Especially when someone had presented him with a way of locking up Lucy (a term him and Castiel started to use to undermine Lucifer for a self-reassuring slash empowering mechanism) and all the problems he had brought along.

After Sam was thrown to the ground next door by a buff pitch-black-eyed demon, the older Winchester rushed to check on his brother and took Colt's gun before anyone -or anything else took it. Although the gun couldn't kill Lucifer, they got them back from Crowley after so long after all and they would be dammed if a demon got a hold of it.

Dean saw three demons coming toward him and he took a quick glance at Castiel before firing some shots at them. It was good that he gave Cass Ruby's knife since Dean was quite sure Cass had no experience with guns or rifles, or anything other than knives for that matter.

Although he wanted to come over to Castiel's side, Dean stayed close to Sam so that he could protect him from being taken away to Lucifer. Not that he didn't trust his brother—or maybe he doesn't, not completely anyway—but Dean understood that leaving Sam alone with Lucy was not the best of plans.

He shot down two demons in the split of the second but when he tried to shot the third one, Dean felt a gush of wind hitting his body. Before he knew it, his body was already thrown to the wall. His back hurts like hell and the gun was not in his grip anymore.

He saw the demon approaching him, bending his back to reach out to the gun. Dean tried to get up as fast as he can, but he was not fast enough to grab the gun first. When he stood up, he saw the demon smirked at him and turned his body toward Castiel's direction, who had just pierced the last of the two demons with the knife he held in his hand.

Dean Winchester stop dead on his track when he thought of what the smirk must have meant. His face grew pale and his hand became clammy. If dean were told that no one could stop time an hour ago, he would very well agree. And yet, at that moment, he felt time had stopped. His brain had froze the moment for him (or a more scientific answer Dean thought in the end, would be that it just work so much faster because of the adrenaline rush).

The gun that was in Dean's grip a few minutes ago was now pointed to his only up and standing ally. Dean knew with his juice the fallen angel could have zap anywhere and that all of the mess would end so much faster. But without it, Dean bet even ordinary bullets would work against him.

* * *

_Dean picked up his phone after the depressing thought of his brother saying yes to Lucifer. "Hello?" He can't help but to raise his voice._

_His eyes widened when the caller in the end of the line called his name. "Cass?" His voice trailed. Cass tried to help the Winchesters when Adam was revived to bait Dean to say Yes to Michael. He carved the angel banishing sigil on his chest and had waited for the right moment to zap all of the angels out of the way along with himself to make way for Dean and Sam. Sure, all it does was to banish angels temporarily, but it has always been drawn on a wall, not carved in an Angel's body. They had to assume for the worst. Dean couldn't even begin to describe the gut wrenching guilt and the feeling of having a tint of hope that stopped his breath every time he thought Cass would suddenly appear behind him. _

_He wanted to do research, but there was no hunter guideline on Angles. So instead, Dean would spent his sleepless nights replaying the scenes in his head—of Cass being furious at him, yelling while pinning him to the brick wall in the alleyway, of the time Cass took the razor in his hand and carved those print of Enochian sigil he asked Dean to outline, and of the time he saw Cass slamming his own bleeding chest with his hand before disappearing in the light. Dean could not deny the relief he felt when he heard the deep voice on the other end of the line._

_Dean wasn't sure what Sam was saying to him but he put a hand up to tell him to be quiet. "We all thought you were dead. Where the hell are you, man?" _

"_The hospital" The angel replied him._

"_Are you ok?" Dean was worried, even more so when the rational side of his brain told him that angels don't get hurt unless they are to be stabbed by angel swords._

"_No" Cass replied ever so unemotionally and Dean was not satisfied with the answer. The older Winchester waited for a few moments but got no explanation from his angel friend. _

"_You want to elaborate?" The angel really ticked him off sometimes. _Do you really have to ask everything explicitly to get the information you want with angels? _Dean wondered. The angel then explained how he was found unconscious and had just woke up in a hospital somewhere in Delacroix._

_By this time Dean's mind was swarming away to the thought of being able to lock Lucifer back in hell's prison. He would needed to find all four of the horsemen rings and Castiel's help would be much needed to take away Pestilence's. Dean was just about to ask Cass to help the team with his powers when an unexpected explanation from Cass threw him off._

"_You could say my batteries are drained." He heard Cass finish the sentence with a sigh.  
_

_He glanced at Sam and Bobby before rolling his eyes in disbelief. One who had been around with Dean long enough though, would have notice the worry in his eyes. "You're saying you're out of angel mojo?" _

"_I'm saying I am thirsty, I have a headache. I have a bug bite that itches no matter how I scratch it, and I'm saying that I'm just incredibly...human." _

_Dean sighed, amused at the luck their group lacked. "Wow. Sorry." He was a bit annoyed with the situation but Dean couldn't deny that the fallen angel's explanation was helplessly cute._

* * *

In that instant moment the older Winchester leaped toward Castiel. He begged his muscles to push him faster. He didn't know if it indeed did because his mind was so occupied with the thought of loosing someone dear. It terrified him, more so because of the fact that it was Colt's that the Demon was holding.

Even if Cass could dodge death, he doesn't cope well with pain. Dean at least knew that for a fact. He knew he could endure the pain a lot better and he was willing to do that for a friend. And that was exactly what he was going to do. He had experienced something worse before. He still remembered it vividly. Afterall, for thirty years he had endured the pain. Nothing should be able to top the torture he went through in hell, Dean always told himself whenever he was in shithole situations.

* * *

_It was all red. His body was torn—literally. Every time his body adapted to the heat and let his mind rest, they gave him a slap and carved more things into his bones to wake him up. There was no rest, but worse, no matter how hard they torture, how hard they cut his flesh, Dean could not pass out. His physique would always restore and his consciousness never wore out, but anyone who witnessed it would understood that his soul was already damaged._

_At the end of the day, Alastair would always come to ask Dean to join him beat other souls to pulp and every time Dean would endure everything, getting the one tiny pleasure from telling Alastair to shove back the deal back to his arse. _

_Unfortunately for Dean, their custom didn't end there. Every year Alastair would applaud him and throw him a hell anniversary "here is to your anniversary with hell" He would say before asking Dean to make the deal. _

_"May there be many joyous years ahead of us. And the answer to your offer is No." Dean would reply in sarcasm the first couple of years. _

_"Oh! I think you meant 'decades ahead of us" Alastair would respond back in laughter. He knew that it would piss Dean off._

_"Fuck off Alastair."_

_For years and years and years the conversation was repeated that it became quite like a script for the both of them._

_Until one day Dean gave up and took the offer._

_A part of Dean was telling him that he was making the wrong choice, but he was feeling just too raged. He was too fed up of the pain. He wanted to pour his anger toward someone else. Anyone else. As long as he doesn't feel the peeling of his skin anymore._

_The second year or so was the hardest for him. His rage started to wear off and he realized what he was doing. But he doesn't want to go back. He knew that you could not repent, not when you're in hell already anyway. There was no escape and he will be there for eternity. So he continued. _

_Until one day he was proven wrong yet again. _

* * *

And the sound of the bullet went off.

He couldn't deny it went off to the direction of someone who he once despised, someone who once he feared, yet it was the same someone who had took rationality away from him for pleasure.

Dean tried not to close his eyes when he hit the body now standing five feet away from him. He want to make sure that the one he protect was the guy in the trench coat he felt guilty for being too accustom to.

* * *

_Dean felt the stare his partner gave him and he looked up._

_"What? Do you feel defiled?" He chuckled. He meant for it to be a joke._

_"No. I came to term with it already the time we did it in the park."_

_Dean laughed at the typical-Castiel answer. "Jesus Cass. Don't take everything so seriously..." He looked at the pair of eyes that stared back at him in confusion, his partner frowned, his brows almost touching one another. "Just say something sexier would you?"_

_"Uh." Dean felt his partner's fidget awkwardly under him. "Well." Another pause, "I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable"_

_Dean broke into laughter "I think your definition of sexy is a bit off dude if you think that anything would throw me off." He propped his body up and adjusted it so that their eyes are in the same level. The older Winchester leaned in and planted a kiss on the angel's jaw. Castiel squirmed a little, his face reddening. Dean continued to leave traces of kisses along his nape and his lips curved. He just loved how he knew Cass's weak points. _

_"De—" Castiel was just about to protest when it was cut halfway with a tongue that entered his lips._

_Dean opened his eyes and looked at his partner. Cass seemed to have trouble kissing and breathing at the same time and Dean found it just too cute. When they parted lips Castiel finally took a deep breath. Dean chuckled a little and took a soft bite on the fallen angel's ear bone. When he heard the noise his partner made, his lips had turned into a smirk. _

_Dean pressed his lips against Castiel's ears and whispered, "Now that's what you call sexy." _

_And continue Dean did._

* * *

The impact was far from calm. His pushed the fallen angel to the ground, causing both of their bodies to roll over on the ground. His body landed on top of the angel. Dean didn't pay too much attention to his surrounding or what exactly happen at that moment because his mind was too occupied to the thoughts of loosing his...acquaintance.

Sure Cass was special, enough to put him in the same kind of special with Bobby or even Sam, but Dean didn't know what to classify the angel as. He didn't really think of Castiel as his brother, most definitely not as his father. But for now, it doesn't really matter.

* * *

_Dean and Sam had just finished a case and were spending their time in the town for a breather before continuing their road trip. They had planned to go to the town's famous bar, but they didn't plan the part of being too god-dammed tired. The brothers had just finished hunting a vampire, Cass tagged along. Sam had bid both of them goodnight and went straight to bed and Dean was not feeling any much better either. _

_"You know we angles knows almost everything right? Especially things among angels or fallen angles for that matter."_

_"Sure. What are you trying to say?" Both Cass and Dean went inside their motel room. Dean gazed at a sleeping Sam in one of the two twin beds in the room. Dean sighed. H__e was having a constant headache every time his head moved just a little bit too much._

_"Well."_

_"Well?" He glanced back at Cass, giving him his full attention._

_"You know the time when you met Anna,"_

_Dean waited for his partner to continue. He doesn't like where this is going._

_"You slept with her."_

_He rolled his eyes. "I did. To our understanding that night was her last night on earth before she got banished by a couple of very persistent angles." Dean didn't even know why he was making excuses._

_"...So anyone in a pitch would do?"_

_"Cass, please, don't make it sound like I am the bad guy here…" _

_"Well then tell me. What do you think of her? Or Jo? Or Lisa?" He paused, "Or me for that matter?"_ Cass having an freakin' identity crisis here?_ Dean wanted to ask. Dean wished that Cass would open the conversation anytime other than at that moment. His foot aches, his brain was beating the inside of his head, his nose stings, and he was willing to bet that he'd be waking up feeling worse than a hangover._

_"Hey don't bring those other names. It's not fair and you know it." He thought he might be getting a cold._

_"So explain so that I know for sure."_

_It felt like there was a lump in Dean's throat and that he was about to choke on it. Dean thought it must've been the cold's doing. "...It's not your God-damned business."_

_"Well we spent countless time with each other in those 'burning passion'—your words, so I'd say it is my God-damned business." That was as literal as Dean had ever heard Cass say. He was getting smarter at arguing with Dean._

_"Doesn't make you anything—" Dean regretted his poor choice of words as soon as he said it. He met Cass in the eyes and saw the hurt his words refelcted._

_"Huh. You don't say." The other voice replied, zapping to another place, leaving his voice trails into nothingness._

_Dean wanted to call him back, pray to reach him, but instead he closed his eyes, flopped to the bed and fell asleep._

* * *

There was another bang initiated from behind him, knowing it was coming from the salt-gun Sam fired, Dean felt a rush of relief. He saw Sam wiping the half-dried blood coming from the cut he got in the side of his face, his body bending like it was sore all over, but he seemed alright otherwise. He noticed Sam reaching for Ruby's knife, and it seemed the Demon did figure it out too. It was not long before black smoke came out from the vessel the Demon occupied.

Dean tried to prop up his body with his arms, so to not put too much weight on his partner, but his arms failed him. He wondered why the sudden loss of power when he noticed the burning ache that was coming from his left hip.

"Oh son of a—" Dean rolled his body over to his right side to move off of Castiel and pressed the bleeding would. It helped the pain.

He felt someone holding up his head and putting more pressure above his hand-covered wounds, aiding the power he lose over his muscles.

"Why did you do that Dean?" Dean could detect the chunk of guilt and worry in the other man's voice.

A thought came across Dean's head. He wouldn't risk his life for _any_ friend; much less risking his brother's when it was clearly a demon they were dealing against. Yet, he left his brother's side to save Castiel.

For a fact he knew he left Lisa and Ben to hunt, he let Jo sacrifice herself to hold off those hell's hounds, and heck, he even handed in Anna to the angles in trade for their sparing of Sam. He really did thought that no one would top his brother on his priority list. But it seemed that he was proven wrong by his own instinct.

Dean smiled at the other person. "Just cause Cass. Just cause." _Yeah_, Dean thought to himself, _it was probably time to accept that this guy was more than special._

He was loosing consciousness when he heard Sam's voice in the distance in parts. "You'd be fine Dean, called for help...will be fine."

Dean could felt a hand caressing his cheek. His eyes blurred and it became harder to breathe normally. The brunette couldn't stop complaining to himself. Life's a fucker and it always cut you off when things get good. He hoped he'd make it, or that Cass would regain his power and find him—even if he end up in one of the lousy places people call heaven and hell.

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A/n: I Hope the flashbacks weren't too confusing. Your review will be greatly appreciated!


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